I helped hoist the driver upright. The driver’s-side window cracked under his feet.
“Leaving isn’t safe.” He sounded clearer than before. “We should call for help. Do you have a phone? I lost mine—long story—Jeez, how old are you?”
“We already have help.” I craned my neck, searching the darkening sky for Neven. She was flying in circles, diving every few moments to snatch up a troll or fling it back to the ground. I waited for her to clear the vehicle, then stretched out, lifting the door overhead. “Could you boost me?” I asked the driver.
“This is a bad idea, kid.”
A troll threw itself into the windshield. Cracks spiderwebbed along its surface.
The driver grimaced, then folded his hands for me to stand on. Within moments, I’d climbed up, nearly slicing my palm on the sharp metal where I’d cut open the door. Oh: That was why the trolls hadn’t opened the door yet. Lifting it meant touching exposed steel.
I reached into the cab to help the driver up. Nearby, I heard the rhythmic tap of the trolls’ claws.
Right on time, I hoisted the driver over the edge. I instantly whirled and cut a wide slash through the air behind me. The knife went clean through one troll’s chest. Two other trolls approached from my left, and I extended the knife in warning.
“What—What’s that?” the driver said. “Holy shit!”
It occurred to me I should’ve told him about Neven.
She glided toward us, a sleek dark shadow. Her front paws wrapped around the driver. Her hind legs stretched for me, and I expected that by-now-familiar tug at my core, when—
Neven roared, an animal screech of pain. Her legs spasmed. Before I could see what was happening, her tail lashed out and rammed into my back.
I hit the truck facedown.
Then she was gone.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
I looked up, my eyes unfocused. My forehead thudded painfully. In my peripheral vision, a gray silhouette crawled toward me.
Troll.
Adrenaline spiked in my veins. I scrambled away on all fours. I needed to—
Oh shit, a troll on my other side—
My knee slipped on the slick, dusty metal. I crashed sideways. I caught a glimpse of Neven far down the field. Whatever had hurt her, she was still moving. I’d have to hide and wait her out. The cab was too far away; I was closer to the back of the truck than the front.
The back of the truck. Which was filled with steel.
I slashed at the nearest troll, a straight line right above its ankles. By the time it collapsed, I had already cut jagged marks into the truck surface all around me, just deep enough to expose the steel below the outer layer of paint or anticorrosives or whatever the hell the outer layer of a truck was made of. It might slow down the trolls.
I crawled to the back of the truck, haphazardly carving lines as I went, and looked over the edge. Three smaller trolls sat on the ground. A roll-up door made up the entire back wall of the truck, with a chain lock keeping it closed. The lock was only two feet down from where I sat.
To my side, a troll was climbing the truck. Claws pried into the nearest tire. I cut the hand clean off, then strained toward the chain lock. The tip of my knife sank through one link. The weight of the chain pulled the whole thing down, rattling against the door before it slipped free and hit a troll below.
I pulled at the door. It creaked and groaned, probably not used to being opened while on its side, but it slowly gave, creating a vertical gap from the grass upward.
The trolls on the ground looked up at me, all eagerness and bloodlust.
I slid over the edge legs-first. One troll leaped and snapped at my feet. My heart beat against my ribs. I tried not to think about my catastrophically awful decision-making skills. I let the rest of my body glide over the edge, swung my legs into the truck, and let go before I could change my mind.
I crashed into a pile of steel. Metal clattered like thunder. A sharp edge cut across the length of my calf, and corners and points stabbed into my body all over.
I blinked away stars. Then my head snapped right, looking outside through the gap.
There’d been three trolls outside before. Now I counted at least ten. A smaller troll experimentally reached inside the truck, but yanked its hands back the moment it touched steel.
I straightened my glasses and untangled my limbs, sending more metal sliding and crashing all around me. Moving hurt. I tried to bite down the pain. This would leave a lot of bruises.
From the meager light that entered through the opening, I got a decent idea of the cargo. Gleaming metal lay scattered all over. Metal wire coils of various sizes. A pile of rectangular sheets held together with orange straps. A tangled blue tarp. A couple of lockboxes. Bundles of rods. Other rods lay jumbled on the floor like a game of pick-a-stick. When the truck toppled onto its side, its cargo must’ve scattered all over the wall.
I clambered deeper into the truck. The trolls seemed hesitant to enter, but I wanted to put space between us, regardless. Pain shot through my calf with every movement. Something dark and wet stained my jeans.
I made my way to the wall—what used to be the roof—stepping gingerly around the chaos on the floor. With my knife, I cut a sloppy hole about two inches in diameter. I peered through.
The field stretched out before me. Trolls were scattered around the truck, some sitting and some pacing. In my limited line of sight, I counted twenty, easily. Fear crept into my throat.
Past the trolls, several dozen feet away, the driver was running across the field. Trolls sprinted after him. Neven followed overhead. Her movements were erratic and twitchy, nothing
